A Light From the Shadows
by TheFreakWithTheWings
Summary: In an AU where Ahsoka is the one to raise Leia, the two of them crash land on a primitive planet a year after the Empire forms. Bilbo Baggins is really confused about this strange wizard woman with swords of light.
1. Chapter 1

Ahsoka was tired.

It seemed to be one of her defining traits lately. She was tired of war, tired of losing people, tired of being on the run. She was exhausted from nightmares that plagued her sleep, but even worse were the visions, echoes in the Force, of a Jedi dying. She was tired of living on a ship with only a one-year old Human for company, and she was tired of being an eighteen-year old mother to a baby of another species, constantly worrying about messing up with no one to turn to.

Which was not to say that Ahsoka wanted to get rid of Leia. Oh no. She loved her little Skygirl more than anyone else in the whole galaxy. She just had some doubts on her ability to raise another person, especially if that person was one of two possible saviors of the galaxy.

However, Yoda had insisted they split up the twins to keep them safe, and Obi-Wan had already taken Luke. That left only her or Yoda to raise Leia, and Ahsoka had figured that a childhood on the run was better than one in a swamp with only Yoda for company.

Now, though, after a year of constantly dodging Imperial forces, Ahsoka thought that maybe Leia would have been safer with Yoda. Ahsoka was currently steering them into Wild Space, hoping to find a hospitable planet where she could repair her ship. She had only just shaken the Imps off of her tail a few jumps ago, but her ship wasn't going to last much longer.

The blue and green marble that she plotted a course to once she'd entered the system slowly grew as they approached. They were still too far away to detect any signs of sentient life forms, though.

They were just entering atmosphere when Ahsoka received a flare of warning in the Force. A quick check of the computers revealed that the shields didn't have enough power to survive the burn up in the atmosphere. All Ahsoka could do was cancel all nonessential functions and a few of the essential ones and divert the power to the shields. Then she wrapped her body around Leia, who was more fragile, sunk her awareness into the Force, and braced them both for the crash.

0o0o0

The sound of Leia crying never failed to pull Ahsoka from even her deepest of sleeps. As it turned out, it also applied to unconsciousness.

She jerked awake, all of her senses straining to detect any source of danger. When she found none, Ahsoka checked on Leia, hoping that her little Skygirl hadn't been injured in the crash. There was nothing but a small cut on her arm, nothing that a bit of bacta wouldn't heal.

Ahsoka had not been so lucky. A deep breath sent fire racing up her left side, likely indicating broken ribs. She was covered with small cuts and bruises as well. Still, she had been expecting worse, and better she was hurt than Leia.

Ahsoka carefully pulled both of them from the ship, thankful that any fires had already died down. There was smoke spilling out of the center console though, tickling her lungs and the insides of her throat. She crouched down to escape it and winced when the action aggravated her ribs.

Leia coughed too, big tears rolling down her cheeks, so Ahsoka ripped off part of her shirt and tied it around Leia's face, hoping it would be enough.

She set Leia down against a tree outside the blackened ring of frass, tucked her face into the top of her shirt, then went back into the slightly mangled ship to pull out whatever food and medical supplies had survived the crash. She carefully piled them outside the ship to organize once she was done.

There was a sharp warning of danger in the Force, so Ahsoka pushed herself into a leap, landing at Leia's side moments later, her lightsabers in her hands but not ignited.

She stretched her senses out in the Force, searching for the source of the warning.

A wolf appeared over the top of a nearby hill. It felt almost sentient in the Force, as well as Dark. It didn't seem to be malicious though, so Ahsoka didn't attack.

As it slowly approached them, she could see that it was larger than a normal, adult wolf, and, if the size of its paws were any indication, it would only get larger. It was still only a puppy, albeit a very large one. It also had a wider face than most wolves she was familiar with.

The puppy stopped just out of reach, carefully eyeing them.

If Obi-Wan was here, he would try to communicate with it. Anakin, on the other hand, would try to scare it away. Ahsoka figured it would be better to try Obi-Wan's method first, given that she was on a strange world, her only ally still in diapers.

Ahsoka holstered her shoto and reached out both physically and with the Force, connecting their minds.

The wolf - no, warg it insisted on being called - was curious more than anything else. It had gotten lost and seen their crash. It - she - thought they might have been its masters.

Ahsoka couldn't hold back a hiss of anger at the word master.

'No,' she sent to her mind. 'Friends, not masters.'

The sudden intense flare of happiness almost made Ahsoka sever the bond between herself and the warg, its mind full of a gleeful chant of 'Pack!'

The warg tackled Ahsoka, licking at her face and lekku.

"Get off of me, you silly beast," Ahsoka exclaimed, laughing despite the pain in her side.

The warg pulled back before turning to Leia. As Ahsoka watched carefully, the warg sniffed Leia a few times before licking her in the face. Leia burst into happy giggles.

'Name?' Ahsoka sent down the rudimentary bond.

The warg sent back an impression of tripping and getting a faceful of another's scent that Ahsoka interpreted as Trips Into Other's Business. She decided to call her Trip for short.

Trip didn't mind when Ahsoka strapped the supplies she couldn't carry onto her back, although she did wrinkle her nose at the scent of the bacta.

They picked a direction and walked for most of the day, with occasional stops for food. Trip was a very good hunter, almost effortlessly bringing back game that Ahsoka was happy to share. The less she ate of the rations, the more there was for Leia.

The pain in Ahsoka's side only grew as they continued onward, and she soon realized that she would need a healing trance of several hours to make it stop hurting.

They stopped for the night at the base of a large tree, having entered a forest a few hours earlier. Ahsoka could sense three beings a ways away, not close enough that she needed to worry.

Trip curled up around Leia's tiny form, and, despite her Darkness, Ahsoka trusted her to watch over Leia. The ward had decided they were her family and would not turn on them.

Ahsoka pushed all of her other worries away and slipped into a healing trance.


	2. Chapter 2

Ahsoka awoke from her healing trance whole but exhausted. She wanted nothing more than to stay curled up with Trip and Leia and sink back into sleep. However, the three sentients had grown into eighteen, and one of them was strong in the Force. Ahsoka knew she would have to investigate or she wouldn't be able to sleep soundly.

Trip opened one eye and looked at her when she stood up. Ahsoka sent reassurance to her so that she wouldn't try to follow. Someone needed to guard Leia.

Trip sighed and went back to sleep.

The Force guided her feet through the forest, letting her pass almost soundlessly, just another shadow in the night. The minds of animals, both sleeping and awake flickered by while she ran, like tiny flares, while the plants were more of a gentle hum. The whole area thrummed with life.

A sharp stab of someone's fear tore through the Force. It wasn't from the Force sensitive, so it was able to get past her shields.

Ahsoka abandoned her stealth efforts and poured all of her energy into speed.

She burst into a clearing moments later, behind three giant creatures who stank of Darkness - the malicious kind. There were numerous smaller beings tied up in sacks and some roasting over an open fire. The giants were going to _eat_ the other people.

Ahsoka ignited her lightsabers and leaped on top of the closest giant, using him to push herself over the fire. She landed with her back to the smaller beings, facing the giants.

The giants shouted loudly, their confusion leaking into the Force.

One of them tried to swat her, but Ahsoka jumped over his hand with ease, slashing across his face with her shoto as she did so. She didn't want to kill anyone yet, not when she didn't know the full story, so her attack was only meant to injure.

She Force-pushed the other two giants into the trees before they could get any bright ideas about attacking her.

As soon as the giants were out of the way, Ahsoka used the Force to lift the log that some of the beings were tied to off of the fire. She tried to set it down so that none of them were trapped beneath it, but she was tired and might have squashed a few arms and legs.

The giants chose that moment to attack again, yelling something that Ahsoka didn't understand.

One tried to grab her, so she flipped backwards, her lightsabers a whirl of green and yellow as she chopped the fingers off his hands.

The giant that had tried to hit her earlier, who now had a large burn on his face, pulled out a knife. He moved fast for something so big, but not fast enough. His hand soon joined the other giant's fingers on the ground.

Before the last giant could attack, an old man wearing gray robes and a gray hat, strong in the Force, appeared on top of a stone hill. He shouted something that made the giants turn to him then slammed his staff into the hill. A brief flex in the Force combined with the blow split the stone in two, and the light of dawn filled the clearing.

To Ahsoka's astonishment, the giants turned into stone, their presences extinguished from the Force. Just like that, they were dead.

Ahsoka stood off to the side, her lightsabers turned off and clipped to her belt, while the shorter beings pulled themselves out of their sacks and cut their people off the log. The Force user watched her with shrewd, ancient eyes that reminded her of Yoda, or maybe Plo.

She sent him a small smile, making sure to keep her lips closed over her teeth. Some people found sharp teeth disturbing, and she didn't want to alienate the only non-malicious sentients around already.

The old man narrowed his eyes for a moment then nodded before turning away.

Ahsoka went back to observing the shorter beings - likely some subspecies of Human. They had a lot of hair, she noted, fighting to keep her nose from wrinkling.

One of the short humans with long, dark hair and a short beard approached her. He said something that Ahsoka couldn't understand, although the feeling she caught from him was one of gratitude.

"Do you speak Basic?" she asked.

The Force user frowned and walked over to stand behind the short human. He said something in a different sounding language, but Ahsoka still couldn't understand.

"How about Mando'a?" she asked in Mando'a. Neither of them appeared to understand.

They spent a few minutes throwing various languages at each other before they hit on one that they both understood: an ancient Jedi dialect, one that had already fallen out of use by the times of the Ruusan Reforms. Ahsoka only knew a bit of it because Obi-Wan knew it, and Anakin had occasionally punished her by scheduling lessons in it with his Master.

"I called Ahsoka," she said clumsily.

"I'm-" something indistinguishable "Gandalf." He said more, but she didn't understand it.

Ahsoka frowned, trying to figure out a way to ask where the nearest city was, when a howl rang out.

It was Trip, calling her back.

"I come here," Ahsoka said, unable to remember the word for back or the future tenses of the verbs.

Gandalf seemed to understand, thankfully.

Ahsoka ran back into the forest, leaving her possibly new allies behind.

It didn't take her long to pack up all of their supplies - feeding and changing Leia took much longer.

Trip seemed excited to meet the new people; she had already taken to calling them 'new pack.' Ahsoka had tried to stress that they were possibly friends, not definitely friends, but Trip didn't seem to understand.

After a while, Ahsoka gave up trying to explain and just let the warg prance around the tree while she finished packing.

Once everything was secure and Leia was happy, Ahsoka took a deep, calming breath to steady her nerves and prepare for what was likely to be the most difficult negotiations of her life. Then she set off, leading Trip down the route she had traveled twice before, Leia in her arms, as she mentally tried to recall everything she'd learned about the ancient dialect.


	3. Chapter 3

Bilbo was very confused.

One minute he had been sure that the entire Company was going to get eaten by trolls, and the next a strange woman, with swords of green and yellow light and magical abilities, had appeared and fought off the trolls. She didn't speak any language he was familiar with, and, almost immediately after a halting conversation with Gandalf, had disappeared back into the forest.

The dwarves had been nonplussed with the strange woman but had quickly become distracted by the prospect of exploring a troll hoard. Bilbo wasn't sure if Gandalf was distracting them on purpose or if it was a happy accident. Either way, the wizard didn't seem to want to talk about her.

It was only after the contents of the troll hoard had been divided up that the woman showed up again, a human baby in her arms and a warg at her heels.

The dwarves were immediately bristling with weapons, and Bilbo rested a hand on his new elvish sword.

The woman frowned, the white markings - goodness were those _tattoos?_ \- on her face pulling out of shape. She said something to Gandalf, the rise at the end of her speech indicating a question.

Gandalf gestured to the warg when he answered, likely informing her that wargs were all vicious monsters and not to be trusted.

The woman beckoned Gandalf forward.

"Gandalf, what is she saying?" Thorin asked warily.

"She said that the warg was a friend and wants me to meet it," Gandalf said.

"Surely you can't be considering it," Dori exclaimed.

"She has given me no reason to distrust her yet," Gandalf said.

"Yeah, except for traveling with a warg," Bofur grumbled. "How do we know she isn't some new breed of orc?"

"Orcs would never care for a human child," Bilbo said suddenly. "Look at how they're interacting; she clearly cares for the child, and the child trusts her."

"Thank you, Bilbo. You make an excellent point, and that is why I will be doing as she asked," Gandalf said.

THe wizard ignored the loud protests of the dwarves as he stepped forward.

The warg pounced as soon as Gandalf was in range, but rather than snarling and biting it began to lick at Gandalf's face. Bilbo and the dwarves watched in stupefied silence as their wizard was liberally coated in warg slobber.

The woman laughed at Gandalf's misfortune, then said something to the baby in the first language that she had spoken. The baby giggled and grabbed at the woman's cloth-wrapped hair. At least, that's what Bilbo figured it was. He couldn't fathom what else the woman could have on her head.

Seeing that Gandalf was perfectly safe, Bilbo decided it was time to introduce himself.

"Bilbo Baggins," he said, stepping free of the dwarves and bowing to her.

The woman squinted at him for a moment before she said "Ahsoka Tano." She then gestured towards the baby. "Leia Tano."

Thorin grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. "You should not be so reckless."

Bilbo brushed Thorin's hand off his shoulder. "She's perfectly friendly Thorin."

A sudden rustling in the forest interrupted any further argument Thorin might have made. The dwarves fell into a circle around him, Ori, and Kili as the rustling intensified. Ahsoka had two metal cylinders in her hands and was staring at a spot in the underbrush.

A moment later, a wild man burst from the forest, pulled on a sled harnessed to numerous large rabbits.

"Gandalf!" the wild man cried.

"Radagast," Gandalf greeted warmly. _This_ was another wizard? "It is good to see you old friend. What brings you out here?"

"Terrible things, Gandalf, omens, and, oh, hello, who are you?" Radagast asked, peering at Ahsoka. "You certainly don't look like Alatar or Pallando."

Gandalf sighed. "Ahsoka does not speak Westron, Radagast, nor any language found on this shore."

"Ah," Radagast said, a light of understanding dawning in his eyes. "A new one, eh. Don't worry, dear, I'll help you."

Radagast reached over and poked her in the forehead with one gnarled finger before Ahsoka could react.

Ahsoka blinked at him for a second, then collapsed like a marionette with its strings cut.

The warg swooped in and grabbed the baby by the back of her clothes before Leia could tumble to the ground. Oín put down his weapon and went over to examine her.

"I think she's fine," he yelled. "Just out cold."

"Oh, dear," Radagast said, frowning. "That wasn't supposed to happen. I hope I didn't give her my knowledge of bird nests instead. It's right next to where I store my languages, you see."

"Radagast, you should have let her learn on her own," Gandalf reprimanded.

"But this way she doesn't have to," Radagast argued.

"Sorry," Bilbo interrupted. "But what did you do to Miss Tano?"

"He shared his knowledge of all the languages of Middle-Earth," Gandalf explained tiredly.

"And that's a bad thing?" Bilbo asked slowly.

""Never you mind, Bilbo Baggins," Gandalf said grumpily. "Now, what were the terrible things you wished to tell me?"

"Oh, yes," Radagast said. "I forgot. The Greenwood has become poisoned by witchcraft. Not to mention, I found this." He pulled out a wrapped package and showed it to Gandalf.

Ahsoka suddenly awoke, startling Oín as she lurched to her feet. A green blade erupted from one of her metal cylinders with a hiss, aimed at Radagast.

"Oh, hello, young one. Can you understand me?" Radagast asked, seemingly unconcerned about the glowing blade pointed at his face.

Ahsoka frowned. "Yes. How? What did you do to me?"

"He gave you the ability to speak and understand Westron, the common tongue in these parts," Gandalf explained.

"Oh. Thank you," she said, lowering her blade.

Suddenly, she stiffened and looked back the way Radagast had come.

"Is everything alright, dear?" Radagast asked.

"There are wargs coming, a whole pack. There's other beings too, full of Darkness."

No one questioned how she could know of such things.

"An orc hunting party," Gandalf said. Bilbo felt icy fingers of fear dig into his heart. "Who did you tell of our quest, Thorin Oakenshield?"

"No one," Thorin protested angrily. "Perhaps _she_ led them here."

A chorus of warg howls broke out before they could continue their argument.

"I'll lead them away," Radagast volunteered.

"Those are Gundabad wargs. They'll catch you," Gandalf warned.

"These are Rhosgobel rabbits," Radagast said with a wild gleam in his eye. "I'd like to see them try."

"No," Ahsoka said, a yellow blade appearing from the other cylinder. "I need to try something first."

She glanced down at her warg, a silent communication passing between them in the space of a moment. Then a fierce grin lit up her face as she leapt away before anyone could protest.


	4. Chapter 4

Ahsoka's head felt like it was overflowing, words in many different languages pounding at the edge of her mind. She needed some time spent alone to reorganize her mind with the new information the filthier Force sensitive had shoved into her head.

Unfortunately, there were numerous Dark beings approaching, many wargs and a few others, ones that she suspected were the masters Trip had spoken about. She would have to make time for mental organization later, once she had taken care of these threats.

Ahsoka didn't want to hurt any of the wargs, not after befriending Trip and learning that they were Dark but not evil, but if they did turn out to be a threat to either herself or Leia then she would deal with them.

Keeping that in mind, Ahsoka dodged every attack the wargs threw at her, flipping over them or rolling to the side rather than counterattacking. She evaded at least five warg attacks before one of the other beings came after her.

It snarled at her, shouting something about chewing the flesh off her bones in a language that grated against her montrals.

Ahsoka didn't bother to respond, instead running straight for the warg and using its face to launch herself into the air. The warg stumbled from the force of her jump, only managing to right itself after she'd sheared the being's head from its shoulders with a single strike.

A black arrow whistled towards her, far slower than a blaster bolt, so Ahsoka casually stepped to the side, letting the arrow bury itself in the dirt.

She tracked the trajectory of the arrow back to another of the beings, which was nocking another arrow to its bow. Ahsoka decided not to wait for it to shoot at her again and used the Force to push herself into a leap that took her over the being's head as it drew back on the string. She dispatched this being with the same ease with which she'd killed the first one.

Out of the corner of her eye, Ahsoka noticed Gandalf leading Bilbo and his friends in and out of the large boulders that dotted the hills. She didn't see Radagast anywhere, but she wasn't too upset about that. She wasn't feeling very fond of him at the moment, not after he'd shoved stuff into her mind without even asking for permission.

The last of the beings growled low in their throat as they jumped off of their warg and slowly approached her. It carried a crude metal sword in one hand, and some of its armor seemed to have been stabbed into its skin. It looked very painful.

"You are with Oakenshield," the being spat.

"Was there a question in there?" she shot back.

The being snarled and raised its sword as if to strike her down, but a gesture from Ahsoka sent the weapon flying out of its reach. It stared at her, fear flickering in its eyes.

"Witchcraft," it said in a low tone, taking a step back. "Then you serve the Master."

Ahsoka narrowed her eyes and bared her teeth. "I serve _no_ masters."

The being's face twisted in anger, and it charged at her, its arms outstretched and hands curled into claws as if it was going to tear her apart with its bare hands. Her lightsaber took its hands moments before her shoto took its head.

Then there was no one there but Ahsoka and the wargs. They circled her, and what little she could glean from them in the Force told her that they were evaluating her. It was harder to connect with more than one person in the Force, but she had to try if she wanted to communicate.

She closed her eyes and held up a hand, using the gesture as a focal point from which to push her mind even further into the Force, focusing on the wargs. They were confused, wary, unable to decide if she was predator, prey, or something else.

A large, dark furred warg with a heavily scarred muzzle seemed to be the leader, if the way it approached Ahsoka was any indication. It was big, its head level with hers. She was fairly certain that one swipe of its paws would be enough to cave in her skull.

It stopped close enough for her to smell the rotten meat on its breath. They stared at each other, a contest of wills. Ahsoka had never been able to back down from a challenge, and she knew that if she failed the wargs out consider her an enemy and therefore prey.

The stalemate couldn't have lasted long - Ahsoka's eyes hadn't even started watering when the warg looked away.

A brown blur slammed into the leader a moment later. The two wargs rolled over each other, and the blur revealed itself to be Trip. Ahsoka didn't think Trip was attacking the leader though; the feelings she got from Trip weren't angry or aggressive. Plus, she tended to greet people by running into them.

"Pack!" Trip shouted happily. "Pack, pack, pack, sire."

Ahsoka's eyes widened in realization. The leader was Trip's father, and the rest of the wargs were her lost pack.

The leader and Trip started sniffing each other, and then the leader came over and sniffed Ahsoka. The wariness and confusion bled away, leaving only acceptance in their place.

Her montrals picked up vibrations coming from behind her from numerous large beasts with hooves. The Force practically screamed a warning.

She whirled around, lightsabers at the ready, just in time to see an arrow headed for Trip. Ahsoka had barely enough time to return her shoto to her belt before she plucked the arrow out of the sky. Her hand burned from the friction, but that was a small price to pay for her friend's life.

Ahsoka dropped the arrow, searching for its source, and found it in a group of humans on horses. All of the humans had excessively long hair and were Force-sensitive to some degree, although not enough to be a Jedi.

"What are you, that travels with a warg hunting party?" the leader of the humans asked, a silver circlet on his brow setting him apart.

All of the other humans drew back on their bows when she took a step forward. Ahsoka narrowed her eyes, evaluating the odds. It didn't take long for her to come to the conclusion that there were simply too many of them and too few of her; some of the wargs would die before she could take all of the humans out.

She would have to speak with them. Still, asking a being what species they were was pretty rude, and who hadn't heard of Togrutas before?

Before Ahsoka could do anything, though, Gandalf showed up, Leia in his arms.

"Peace, Lord Elrond," he said. "Lady Ahsoka is an Istari and a friend."

The wargs had tensed when the group of humans showed up, and Gandalf's arrival made things worse. The pack was almost at its breaking point.

Ahsoka projected calm through the Force to the wargs, trying to soothe their tension. However, it didn't immediately seem to be working.

"Could you please lower your weapons?" Ahsoka shouted, interrupting Gandalf and Lord Elrond from exchanging greetings. She wasn't sure if it would work, but it was worth a shot.

"Do as she says," Lord Elrond ordered, and the other people released the tension on their bows.

The calm that she was projecting finally started leeching into the warg pack. Trip came over and sat down at her side with a sigh, so Ahsoka reached out to scratch behind her ear.

"I see you managed to take out the orcs," Gandalf commented, eyeing her strangely.

Ahsoka shrugged. After all she had faced since the beginning of the Clone Wars, a few orcs had been easy. "I've fought worse."

"What brings you here, Lady Ahsoka?" Lord Elrond asked before Gandalf could ask what she meant by 'worse'.

She resisted the urge to correct him about the 'Lady' thing and said "Our ship was badly damaged so I steered it towards the nearest place able to support life." She didn't want to say any more. It was doubtful, based on their technology and the presence of the Force-sensitives, that they were associated with the Empire, but she could never be too careful. Even giving out her name had been a foolish move on her part.

"I regret that such misfortune befell you, my Lady. You and your," Lord Elrond paused for a moment. "Companions are welcome to accompany us to Imladris, although I do ask that they stay away from the residents for their own safety."

Ahsoka glanced over at Gandalf, who nodded encouragingly, then said "I would be happy to."

One of Bilbo's shorter humans chose that moment to appear.

"You planned this all along, didn't you? Leading us to the elves," he shouted, anger etched in every line of his hairy face.

It was looking to be a lengthy argument, so she tuned them out and turned to the leader, projecting a question into his mind. He stared at her for a moment, considering, then inclined his head to indicate agreement. They were going to Imladris, wherever that was. Hopefully it had the parts necessary to repair a spaceship.


	5. Chapter 5

Imladris was luminous, an ancient wellspring of the Light side. It reminded Ahsoka of the Jedi Temple as it had been before the war, and it felt like home, as if the past four years had been nothing more than an exhilarating, yet terrifying nightmare.

"It's my first time visiting Rivendell too," Bilbo admitted,

"It's so beautiful. Thank you," she said, holding out the cloth.

Bilbo smiled. "Keep it."

Ahsoka set it down on top of Leia's head. The little girl was sleeping, although she had stirred briefly when they'd entered the valley. Leia snuffled sleepily in Ahsoka's arms and nuzzled into the space between her front and back lekku, her slow breaths brushing against Ahsoka's neck.

Trip nudged her from behind to catch her attention, projecting fear and discomfort into the Force. Ahsoka felt bad for not realising that the wargs wouldn't immediately like Imladris because of their dark origins.

 _It's safe,_ Ahsoka sent. _I promise._

Trip huffed doubtfully, but she and the rest of the pack followed Ahsoka down into the valley anyways.

The rest of the day passed relatively uneventfully, although there was a bit of a kerfuffle when some of the other humans who lived in Imladris saw the wargs. That had been smoothed over once Lord Elrond explained that they were friendly, though.

Lord Elrond had assigned a woman named Arwen to be her guide. Arwen had obviously lived in Imladris for a long time, if the way she guided Ahsoka through its many corridors and explained some of its history was any indication.

"Enough about my home," Arwen said with a wry smile when she noticed Ahsoka blinking heavily, exhaustion tugging down her eyelids. "Let's get you to a bed."

"That sounds great," Ahsoka said around a yawn. She hadn't wanted to be rude to her hosts, but she was kriffing exhausted. That coupled with the safety that the Light side promised in this place made her feel like she could happily curl up on the floor and sleep for a week.

Ahsoka tried to keep track of where Arwen was leading her, but her eyelids felt much heavier than normal, and each time she blinked the seemed to be in a different hallway. Her arms were beginning to burn from the strain of carrying Leia by the time they reached a suitable room.

"I'll come fetch you when it's time for dinner," Arwen said softly before disappearing back the way they'd came.

She was very beautiful, for someone with so much hair, Ahsoka thought fuzzily, and so full of light.

As soon as it had arrived, the thought vanished as her entire focus narrowed down to getting Leia in bed and following as quickly as possible. Ahsoka only bothered to take off her boots before she climbed into bed and curled up around Leia's small form, sleeping crashing over her like a wave on sand.

0o0o0

The fragments of a strangely pleasant dream lingered in Ahsoka's mind as Arwen led her and Leia to the dining hall. She couldn't remember much of it, but it had been the first time in so long that her dreams hadn't turned into terrible nightmares that she wanted to savor it. Rex had featured prominently in it, she was fairly sure, and maybe Anakin….

Ahsoka's good mood abruptly vanished as she was reminded of why it was so necessary that she and Leia repaired their ship and left this planet.

Arwen led the way into the dining hall, which was dominated by a long table with a golden cloth draped over it. Large arches led out onto balconies, and soft curtains framed windows the looked out over a beautiful garden and the setting sun. A few humans were acting as servers, refilling cups and setting heaping plates of fruits or vegetables on the table. They wore long robes with wide sleeves, and Ahsoka couldn't help but wonder how they managed to keep from spilling food or drink on their clothes.

Arwen guided Ahsoka to her seat at the far end of the hall, which was to the right of Gandalf. The native woman took her seat on the other side of the table, across from Gandalf. Lord Elrond sat between Arwen and Gandalf, at the head of the table. Ahsoka perched Leia on her lap in order to keep her from escaping. The little girl had only been able to walk for a few weeks, but she was a master at getting loose and causing mayhem.

Ahsoka spooned some vegetables onto her plate with the hand she hadn't wrapped around Leia's waist and started smashing them into a paste.

"Is something wrong with the food?" Lord Elrond asked, frowning at her efforts.

Ahsoka shook her head. "No, Leia just has trouble eating larger chunks of food. I'll eat later, when there's meat on the table. My species can't eat a whole lot of fruits or vegetables."

On their first mission together, Anakin had forgotten that togrutas were carnivores, and there weren't enough protein rations for both of them to have a full meal. After apologizing profusely, he had given her all of his and eaten bugs instead. He always made sure to carry along spare protein rations for her after that. Unfortunately, Ahsoka only had a few left now, so if these humans didn't have any meat on hand, then she would have to go hunting with the warg pack after dinner.

"My apologies, Lady Tano, but we weren't planning on serving meat today. I will have a new meal sent for you," Lord Elrond said before he gestured to one of the servers.

"I appreciate it, but there's no need to feel bad. You probably don't see a lot of togrutas here," Ahsoka said as she spooned mashed vegetables into Leia's mouth.

"Is that what you call the form you have chosen to take? Togrutas?" Gandalf asked.

"The singular is togruta, and my species is native to Shili, a planet that is much closer to the galactic center than this one. By the way, I've been meaning to ask, are there any spaceship yards near Imladris? Mine crashed, and I'll need to repair the life support system and the hull at the very least before it'll get off the ground, let alone survive in space," Ahsoka said.

Arwen frowned. "I'm afraid I don't understand. Do you mean to say that you have a ship that _flies_? In the _sky_?

Ahsoka suddenly had a very bad feeling.

This was a pre-spaceflight society. They had never had contact with any other planets, which meant that Ahsoka had accidentally stumbled into a First Contact. _Kriff._ With the war going on, she had never been trained in how to handle a First Contact, mostly because Masters were supposed to handle that, but also because it was assumed she would never go to any world that wasn't aware of the rest of the galaxy.

A sudden ruckus started up at the other end of the table as the shorter humans started throwing around their plates and yelling loudly about too much green. At the same time, the server arrived with her meal, a plate covered in dark, spiced meat that smelled absolutely divine.

Ahsoka thanked the server and dug in while Lord Elrond and Gandalf went to deal with the commotion at the other end of the hall. Still, she could tell from the way that Arwen watched her that she hadn't quite escaped the other woman's curiosity yet.

For the rest of the meal, Ahsoka picked at her dinner and fed Leia in silence, wondering if she would ever get off this planet.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: This one is mostly filler, largely an overview of how people are spending some of their free time at Rivendell. Also, I love libraries.

After being horribly embarrassed by the dwarves at dinner, Bilbo resolved to spend as little time with them as possible while they were in Rivendell. The elves had been so kind to them, and Rivendell was so wonderful that Bilbo didn't feel guilty at all. Still, the dwarves seemed to view it as a betrayal of sort and glared at him whenever they saw him. Bilbo took to spending most of his time in places he knew would be absent of dwarves, such as the library.

Bilbo fell in love with Rivendell's library as soon as he stepped foot into it, although not for the beautiful, sweeping architecture or the magnificent artwork that adorned the walls. While he did appreciate those things when he first saw them, Bilbo barely even noticed them once he saw the books. The sheer volume of them alone was enough to make him want to weep with joy, for there were more books in the library than he would have been able to read in his entire life. However, the subjects of the books were wide and varied, and they were well organized as well. Books on the history of the First Age were shelved next to the history of the Second Age, which itself was next to the incomplete history of the Third Age. There was a whole shelf of books dedicated to plant lore, and another just for gemstones. Bilbo had a brief thought that the dwarves might have been able to find something they wanted to read before his attention was caught by the poetry section. Spanning three whole shelves, the poetry section had a wide selection in every language Bilbo knew and many he didn't. It was the closest thing to perfection Bilbo had ever seen.

After a great amount of deliberation, Bilbo pulled a book full of poetry written by Silvan elves off the shelf and curled up on the nearest armchair to read. Many of the poems were about nature, especially trees, and he found them to be very entertaining.

A number of days later, he was about half-way through the third volume, in the middle of a poem about the song of oak trees, when he heard someone whispering nearby. Normally, he would have dismissed it because this was a library, but the whisperers weren't talking about books. Instead, they seemed to be having a furtive discussion about Lady Ahsoka.

"You cannot actually believe that she comes from the stars," one of them whispered furiously.

"But what reason could she have to lie?" the other asked.

"Perhaps she is working with the Shadow," the first suggested.

"Gandalf and Lord Elrond both trust her," the other elf argued.

Bilbo couldn't listen to these elves argue about Lady Ahsoka any longer. He set down his book and, pushing himself to his feet, marched over to them.

"Pardon me," he interrupted. "But I couldn't help but overhear your conversation concerning Lady Ahsoka. Now, I may be completely out of mind, but I am of the opinion that if you are so _conflicted_ about her origins, then you should simply ask her yourself rather than spreading rumors or misinformation."

The second elf to speak narrowed her eyes at Bilbo. "Maybe if she didn't spend almost all of her time associating with the wargs or the dwarves, we would."

The first elf frowned at his friend. "Actually, Master Baggins, that sounds like a wonderful idea. Would you like to accompany me to visit Lady Ahsoka?"

Bilbo smiled. "That would be lovely, Master?"

"Apologies," the elf said with a bow. "My names is Ruscon, and my companion's name is Faeleth. Come, I will show you to where Lady Ahsoka has been known to frequent. I cannot stay, however, because I must return to the kitchens to begin preparations for dinner."

With one last frosty look at Faeleth, Bilbo followed Ruscon out of the library and into the fields outside of Imladris, asking him the occasional question about what was involved in cooking and baking in Rivendell's kitchens.

Outside, the sun was shining, and there wasn't a cloud in sight. The fields were filled with sweetgrass and wildflowers, which rustled pleasantly in a gentle breeze. On top of that, there was an inviting air to it, as if it was the perfect place for a person to have a picnic, or simply lay back in the grass and marvel at the world. All in all, it was one of the most beautiful fields Bilbo had ever experienced, and the Shire was known for its verdant fields.

The wargs were lying in a loose huddle, with the smallest of them lying across Ahsoka's lap. Lady Arwen was sitting next to Ahsoka, but facing away from her, with Leia in her lap. Ahsoka was playing with Arwen's hair and laughing at something she had said. To Bilbo's surprise, there were also a few dwarves present, sitting among the wargs.

"It was good to meet you, Master Baggins," Ruscon said with a slight nod of his head. "But I'm afraid I must leave you now if I'm to make it back on time."

Bilbo smiled at his escort and nodded back. "I understand. Thank you for your help; it was much appreciated."

"Bilbo, good to see you, lad," Bofur called out before either Bilbo or Ruscon could say anything else. "It's about time you showed up. We were beginning to think the elves had stolen you away."

Bilbo frowned. "I wasn't even aware that this was going on, nor that I was invited."

Bofur's mustache quivered as he too frowned. "Huh. Fili, weren't you the one who was supposed to invite Bilbo out here with us?"

"Nope," Fili replied from where he was warily eyeing a warg. "That was Ori's job."

Ori looked up from where he was sketching another warg into his journal. "No, Fili, it was definitely your job."

Bofur flapped a hand at Fili and Ori. "Sorry about them, Bilbo. You're always welcome to spend time with me."

"What have you been doing out here?" Bilbo asked as he gingerly sat down beside Bofur.

"We've been going hunting, getting something to eat that isn't green, and Ahsoka's been helping us," Bofur explained. "Well, her and the wargs. Plus, Ahsoka tells amazing stories."

"Oh?" Bilbo asked, his interest piqued. "Do they have anything to do with travel beyond the stars?"

"Among other things. How'd you know?" Bofur asked.

"The elf who brought me out here was arguing with another elf on whether or not her tales could possibly be true. The other elf seemed to think she might have been working for dark forces," Bilbo said.

Bofur laughed outright at that explanation, clutching at his stomach. If he hadn't already been sitting down, Bilbo was sure Bofur would have doubled over.

"Hello, Bilbo, nice to see you. What's so funny, Bofur?" the subject of their conversation asked, coming over and sitting next to them.

"Some stuck-up leaf-eaters thinking you might be evil," Bofur explained between chuckles.

Ahsoka rolled her eyes. "At least it's not murder and treason this time."

"What?" Bilbo asked, his eyes wide.

"I second that," Bofur said. "Once you explain planets and starships to Bilbo, you need to share the story behind that."

Ahsoka easily acquiesced and settled in for a long explanation of the world beyond Middle-Earth. The next several hours of Bilbo's life severely altered his perception of the world, and from then on he was never able to look at the night sky in the same light again.


End file.
